22 new sites declared of national importance

26 June, New Delhi

Ancient Buddhist institute remains in Nyarma Thiksay locality of Leh district, a group of temples at Ranipur Jhariyal and Biranchi Nayarana Temple of Odisha are among 22 sitesdeclared of national importance

Following the proposals received from state governments, altogether 3,686 monuments/sites declared of national importance are under the protection of Archaeological Survey of India. Though no such demand has been received in the recent past from conservationists to include more ancient monuments in the list of Archaeological Survey of India protected monuments, the proposals for naming these three monuments thus have been received from state governments.

Waking up to the heritage value of the monuments, the Odisha government has submitted a long list of temples to the Culture ministry for inclusion in the list of sites of national importance. The sites chosen are: Vimalesvari temple, Huma in Sambhalpur district; the Nilamadhava temple, Kantilo in Nayagarh district; Ganjam Fort in Ganjam district; Nrusinghanatha temple, Paikmal, in Baragarh district and Suku Sari Deula and Bhabanisankara temple complex by the side of Sari Deula in Bhubaneswar.

The birthplace of political luminaries Dr. B. R. Ambedkar at Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, Madan Mohan Malviya in Lucknow and Dr. Dwarikanath Kotnis at Solapur in Maharashtra have been also proposed.